Production of aluminum chlorid



UNITEDQSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD CHARLES BAUM DE WITT OWEN JONES, F GHTGAGO, ILLINOIS,

ASSIGNORS T0 ARMOUR FERTILIZER WORKS, OF CHICAGO,

IEORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ILLINOIS, A. COR- PRODUCTION OF ALUMINUM GHLORID.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD CHARLES BAUM and DE WITT OWEN J ONES, both citiemployed, and

upon heated aluminum,

Z8115 of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of lillinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Production of Aluminum Uhlorid, of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore, it has been proposed, or has been customary on a small scale, to produce aluminum chlorid, which is useful and advantageous in many ways including the cracking of heavy, oils, he production of organic compounds, and in the manufacture of dye stuffs, etc., by the action of chlorin also 'by heating a mixture of aluminum oxid and carbon in a current of chlorin, the carbon and chlorin not acting separately but by their mutual action the reaction occurs in consequence of the aflinity of carbon for oxygen and of chlorin for aluminum. These are not economical processes; first, because the reaction is not exothermic in the case of using alumina and carbon, and accordingly outside heating is required; second,- because the production of the metal aluminum is an electrolytic process; and, third, becausethe metal fuses into a lump in the caseof using metal, hence rendering its surface only available for the reaction. Nor are these pr0cesses commercially feasible, since chlorin at the necessary temperature is a disagreeable gas to use and is a violent-reagent consuming parts of the apparatus when outside heating has to be resorted to.

The leading object and (prime purpose of our invention is the economical production and we have d1s-- of aluminum chlorid, covered that it can be made from aluminum nitrid and fulfil such requirement for inexpensiveness in manufacture. The nitrid is employed as a source of aluminum to better advantage than the metal proper, because it can be more cheaply produced without the practice of an electrolytic process, because it does not fuse at the temperature because the reaction is economically exothermic. V

The new process consists in producing the aluminum chlorid from the aluminum nitrid by the direct action of chlorin gas thereon, the development of heat attending the re- Speeification of Letters Patent.

charge of briquets.

occurs practically reaction,

Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

Application filed March 24, 1920. Serial No. 368,372.

action being sufficient to continue the chemical transformation after it has once been Wellinaugurated or established.

In the actual commercial practice of the method, a fire-brick-lined cylindrical shaft or tube of about 12 inches in diameter and approximately 4: feet in height is internally heated in any approved manner, burnlng of gas, until it becomes quite hot. The aluminum nitrid, in the form of briquets of convenient size, containing about a to 5 per cent. of carbon and possibly a small amount of aluminum oXid which has not been converted into aluminum nitrid, such briquets being conveniently used in the form in which they are discharged from a nitriding furnace forming no part of the present invention, is introduced into the furnace or shaft either after or before the heating operation. When the shaft has become sufliciently heated the source of heat, such as the gas'referred to, and air, is shut ofi or discontinued,'and the chlorin gas is introduced and caused to flow through the body or The aluminum nitrid chlorid and the heat is thus converted into reaction 1s sufiigenerated by such chemical ,cient to transform the small amount of aluminum oxid in the briquets which had not previously been char ged into nitrid into aluminum chlorid, the presence of the nanbon making this reaction possible. The temperature employed is unknown, but is probably about 600 degrees to 900' degrees centigrade.v The chemical transformation instantaneously, enough chlorin gas no excess being used, the change being controlled by the speed of introduction of such chlorin,- The process thus once well initiated or established, may be practised continuously by the proper introduction of briquets at the top of the shaft and the withdrawal of. the material reacted upon from the bottom of the shaft during the operation, the aluminum chlorid being sublimed and recovered in a sublimation chamber, whereas, the nitrogen seemingly goes off as a gas and is lost.

Our invention'is not necessarily limited and restricted to the precise and exact features of the process set forth above, because as by the only being admitted for the chemical the method may be varied more or less withand advantages,

' chlorid consistin nitrid fin bri uet orm to the action of chlorin essence of the invention and Without the sacrifice of any of its substantial benefits and, accordingly, the appended claims are intended to cover all equivalents falling Within their scope. For

example, instead of using chlorin gas direct, in some cases itmay be advisable to employ any suitable chemical or chemicals which at the temperature used, gives off or generates the chlorin gas.

We claim:

1. The process of producing aluminum chlorid consisting in subjecting aluminum nitrid to the action of chlorin gas, substantially' as described.

2. The process Ofproducing-aIuminum chlorid consisting in subjecting aluminum nitrid to the action of chlorin gas at a temperature from about 600 de rees to 900 degrees Centigrade, substantia ly as described. he process of producing aluminum chlorid consisting in subjecting aluminum nitrid to the action of chlorin gas at a suflicient temperature to efi'ect the conversion of the nitrid into chlorid and recovering the sublimed chlorid, substantially as described.

4. The process of producing aluminum chlorid consisting in initially heating aluminum nitrid and then subjecting it to the action of chlorin gas, substantially as described. 1 o

5. The process of producing aluminum chlorid consisting in sub'ecting alminum nitrid to the action of ch orin gas, initiating the reaction by outside heat, and depending upon the heat of the exothermic reaction for the continuance of the process, substantially as described,

The process of producing aluminum in subjecting aluminum gas at a su cient temperature to efiect the action of conversion of the nitrid into chlorid, substantially as described.

he process of producin aluminum chlorid consisting in subjecting briquets containing aluminum nitrid and small portions of carbon and aluminum oxid to the chlorin gas whereby both the aluminum nitrid and aluminum oxid are converted into aluminum as described. 1

8. The process of producing aluminum chlorid consisting in subjecting briquets containing aluminum nitrid and small portions of carbon and aluminum oxid to the action of chlorin gas, whereby both the aluminum nitrid and the aluminum oxid are converted into aluminum chlorid, initiating the reaction by outside heat and depending upon the heat of the exothermic reaction for the continuance of the process, substantially as described.

9. The process of producing aluminum chlorid consisting in subjecting briquets chlorid, substantially containing aluminum nitrid, about 4 to 5' per cent. of carbon, and a small amount of aluminum oxid to the action of chlorin gas at a temperature of from about 600 degrees to 900 degrees Centigrade, whereby the aluminum nitrid and some of the aluminum oxid are converted into aluminum chlorid, initiating the reaction by outside heat, depending upon the heat of the exothermic reaction for the continuance of the process, and recovering the sublimed aluminum chlorid, substantially as described.-

10. The process of producing an aluminum salt consisting in subjecting aluminum nitrid to the action of a gas of the halogen group at a sufiicient temperature to effect the reaction.

EDWARD CHARLES BAUM. DE WITT OWEN'JONES. 

